Mapping availability and utilization of maternal and child health services on the 16 score card indicators at Urban Settings - An experience from India

Achieving Reproductive Maternal and Newborn Health outcomes is a challenge where there is challenging geography and vulnerable populations. RMNCH+A (Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child Health +Adolescents) Programme is an... [ view full abstract ]

Achieving Reproductive Maternal and Newborn Health outcomes is a challenge where there is challenging geography and vulnerable populations. RMNCH+A (Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child Health +Adolescents) Programme is an attempt to improve the health indicators in a State like Rajasthan having a population of 60 million and with high maternal and child mortality. There are stark differences in the indicators of the Urban and Rural areas of Rajasthan and in the urban settings there are poor maternal and newborn indicators. The paper looks at how the tool of score card indicators has facilitated the mapping of the accessibility and utilization of the services at the urban health institutions covering 10 high priority districts
The RMNCH+A initiative which covers both the Urban and rural areas comprises of various strategies that include gap analysis, capacity building, concurrent monitoring and evaluation. The concurrent monitoring involves the monitoring of the 16 score card dashboard indicators quarterly and on annual basis. The 16 score card indicators are developed on the basis of the data across a population of approximately half a million comprising of pregnant mothers , newborns and infants. The data is entered at the urban health institutions comprising of the Medical Colleges, District Hospitals and Sub Divisional Hospitals situated at the Urban settings.
The score card indicators are selected on the basis of life cycle approach and covers the following areas family planning , Care during pregnancy and delivery , Institutional deliveries , Newborn care, Nutrition during pregnancy ,Breast feeding and home based care . The analysis of the indicators in the high priority districts shows that there are quite stark differentials in terms of the urban and rural settings and the differentials in the inputs gives inputs for the policy makers and programme managers to take corrective action to strengthen the programme implementation